Just to be Left Alone (6 page)

I
was instantly confused.

“About
what?”

He
started rubbing his thumb over my fingers. It sent shivers over my skin.

“Parker.
I thought he was after you until I saw him with Chastity. Then I knew I was
wrong.”

“No,
you were right. He
was
after me and since
I wasn’t interested, I invited him here to meet the girls.”

I
stopped as I saw Jason about ten feet away, staring coldly at me with Conrad.
He quickly glanced at our clasped hands. Conrad followed my gaze without letting
go of my hand. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Shit, this was too much like a
western show-down between him and Jason.

Jason
took quick steps toward us and looked straight into my eyes. The intense look
in his eyes made me shudder.

“You
conniving bitch. This is why you didn’t want to see me?” He pointed at Conrad.
“You went home with this native and fucked him instead of coming home with me.”

I
was stunned by his words. He’d never talked like that to me.

“Jason
Strickland, it’s not like that. Conrad is a friend. I didn’t talk to you
because I can’t deal with this side of you.”
 

“You’re
just telling me lies. I’ve seen what I need to see. He was touching you! You’re
holding on to him right now!”

His
words became a hostile rant as his face darkened and his hands were fisted so
tightly that they were a tense white in the darkness of the bar.

“You
didn’t touch me when we first met. It took forever to get anywhere with you.
My, how fast you turned into a slut. What did it take to bed you? I’d really
like to know.”

I
felt Conrad pull from me. He was in Jason’s face before I could stop him.

“You
will not talk to her in that manner. I thought that I’d made myself clear on
that, but I see you have a thick skull. You will not bother Samantha, threaten
her, call her or even breathe around her. Do I make myself perfectly clear
now?”

Conrad’s
face was a hard mask.

“You
can’t touch me. This is between me and Samantha,” Jason said vehemently as he
kept his stance.

Was
he so over the top that he thought that he could actually go toe to toe against
Conrad?

“I’ll
do more than touch you if you do anything to hurt her. Back away from her and
stay gone, Strickland.”

“I’ll
make you both a promise. You haven’t seen the last of me. You will be sorry.”

Jason
stormed toward the front door, but the crowd coming in covered his exit. I never
actually saw him leave.

“Honey,
are you okay?” asked Felicia.

“If
I get my hands on that man...” stated Chastity.

Conrad
put his arm around me as the girls swarmed around me. Blake and Parker came up
beside Conrad.

Parker
touched my arm and asked, “Do you want to leave?”

“I’m
not going to let him control me. I’m going to sit down and someone can get me a
drink.”

Raven
and Felicia immediately headed off toward the bar while Parker pulled out a
chair for me. Conrad sat next to me and rubbed the back of my neck until the
girls were back. The drink was tall and of course, blue. I giggled again at the
name of the drink, feeling a tad better. I needed the laughter more than I
needed the drink. I took a couple big sips and it was a little stronger, yet still
good.

“All
right guys, I am not on exhibit. Go enjoy yourselves,” I said as I put down my
partially empty glass.

Raven
looked at my glass and then met my gaze.

“I’m
fine and no, I don’t normally drink this fast. If I have any more issues I’ll
grab one of you, I promise.”

I
crossed my heart.

“Blake
and I are going into the pool room for one game. You better be on the dance
floor when I get back,” Raven said.

I
nodded and they walked off together. Parker whispered something to Conrad then
walked away with Chastity to the front entrance.

“Where
are they going?” I asked Conrad.

“Just
to check on something, it’s no big deal,” he said as he started rubbing my neck
again.
 

“Has
anything besides the accident at work happened lately? You know like flat tires,
notes on your car or maybe anonymous gifts?” Conrad asked lightly.

My
eyes popped open.

“No,
why do you ask?”

“Jason
seemed more intense than last time and I just wondered if he’d pulled any
stunts to get your attention.”

“He
left a couple messages and sent flowers. I told him to quit and that I’d call
him when I was ready. I guess that was giving him false hope. Apparently, he
made a good guess of where I’d be tonight. Stupid mistake.”

“Could
you actually get back with someone like that?”

“No.
We were all friends before this and I thought that one day we might be friends
again, given the history. Right now, I’m not so sure. I have no idea why he’s
acting this way. I always believed in giving someone the benefit of the doubt
and even a second chance. This may have to be an exception to that rule.”

“Sometimes
they don’t deserve more chances. I’ve seen people that should never have been
allowed one chance at all,” he said.

“I
know. I typically count on my gut to know the difference. If I’m wrong then I learn
from it and move on. What else can one do?”

“I
admire that. You’re one heck of a woman.”

“I
could’ve told you that and I only have a couple of days on you,” interrupted
Parker.

“Did
that check out?” Conrad asked Parker.

“No,
so we need to make sure.”

I
saw Conrad nod at Parker and I wondered what I had missed.

“What’s
with the cryptic talk?”

I
looked from one man to the other, waiting.

“I
didn’t want to worry you, but no one saw Jason actually leave. I want to make
sure that your place is safe to go home to. It’s just a precaution, like last
time. I’m sorry if that bothers you, because I have to follow my gut too. You
see, I had a friend who was attacked by a stalker. It’s a sad story and she
didn’t catch the signs fast enough. Thankfully, she made it through okay,”
Conrad informed me.

I
whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Parker
said, “One of us will go by your place to see if it’s okay. I’d rather be safe
then sorry.”

“I
don’t plan on going home tonight, so you can check it out if it’ll make you
feel better.”

Felicia
reached out her hand to me and said, “It’s time for you to slide out of the
chair and show this bar what you’re made of, girlie. Come on.”

I
put down my glass of liquid courage and followed her onto the crowded floor. I
had to prove to them that I was indeed okay.

I
heard Felicia giggling and looked around to see Chastity with her arms around
Parker. The next thing I knew, she was pulling his head down toward hers and
laid a kiss on him. He sagged against her. I shook my head and kept dancing as I
laughed with the girls. A minute later Chastity was making room for herself
beside us and I gave her a high five.

 
Chastity shrugged. “After all the duds I’ve
dated, I decided to take action first and see if there was a true spark before
I spent any more time on this one. I told him I was about to kiss him for
experimental reasons and to not be offended or act crazy.”

She
made it sound so normal.

“And?”
Felicia asked.

“It
was amazing. He swooned!”

”Normally
it’s women who swoon. It’s good to know that it can go both ways,” Raven said.

“I
haven’t swooned in a long time,” I said thoughtfully.

“I
would say you’re due for it. In fact, you need to be swept off your feet, young
lady,” Chastity said with her finger pointed at my chest.

“I
agree with Chastity, especially after this crap with Jason. You need some
massive T.L.C.,” Felicia said.

“I
guess that I’ll make it unanimous. Make sure that you aren’t on the rebound and
then go for it,” Raven said as she toyed with her manicured nails.

“I’ve
never just had an affair before,” Felicia admitted.

“Neither
have I”

“I
have and we all know it,” Chastity said with a shrug.

“I
did too, but I wasn’t too sure that I wanted it to be an affair. When I knew it
was only an affair I was disappointed, so I decided to enjoy it until it
fizzled out. He was another model so we were on and off shoots near each other
a lot back then,” Raven avoided our glances.

“Who
was he?” Chastity asked.

Raven
told us his name. We were shocked.

“The
one who did the hot underwear ads?” Felicia knew who the guy was. She could
barely keep her mouth shut.

With
a half grin Raven said, “Yep.”

I
was impressed since I knew exactly whom we were talking about and I would’ve
liked thirty minutes alone with the man, let alone an affair. I wasn’t going to
pry, so I kept my mouth closed since Raven didn’t usually talk about her past.
Felicia was still shaking her head as she went to the bar.

I
looked around for the guys and saw them in the hazy pool room. I told Raven
that I was headed to the ladies room and walked away before Felicia got back
with the tall glasses of water. Thankfully, the bathroom line was short.

Once
finished, I walked out and was painfully grabbed by the hand. I started to yell
and another hand smothered the cry before it left my lips. I was shoved against
the wall near the bathroom exit.

“I
told you I’d be back. But this time, I only want you to hear what I have to
say. Don’t scream or try anything foolish and I’ll be finished in a minute.
Understand?”

I
nodded as much as I could under his smothering hand and swallowed hard.

“Okay,
I love you. I know I’ve done some crazy things, like now, to get your
attention. It seems I’ve driven you into the arms of someone else when I just
wanted us to have the passionate relationship that I’ve been dreaming of. Maybe
we can go slowly this time. Are you serious with that man? Conrad, right?”

I
tried to shake my head.

“Good,
that would make things very bad. I’m going to let you go now. I want you to go
back to the girls and act as if everything is normal, because it is. Don’t get
serious with that man. I’ll be watching you. Now be a good girl and head back
to your table.”

He
kissed my forehead and slowly let go of me. I pushed away from the wall and
looked at him. He calmly took a step away from me, as if he wasn’t the same
person who had been threatening me. I ducked around him and slowly walked away,
just barely looking over my shoulder to see if he was following me. I saw him
slide in with a group coming out of the restroom and I walked faster in the
opposite direction.

I
must’ve looked scared because Felicia noticed me before I got to my vacated
chair.

“What
happened? Are you sick?”

“Just
let me sit down, okay?”

She
pulled out my chair for me. I started looking around for Jason.

“What’s
going on?” Chastity demanded.

I
was still looking around when I answered, “I don’t know if I can say right
now.”

“Don’t
make me drag it out of you because you look petrified right now,” Chastity
argued.

I
looked around one more time before I started to whisper, “I need to get out of
here. I can’t tell the guys what happened. I can’t call any more attention to
myself. He’s watching me.”

“Who’s
watching and what happened back there?” Raven asked quietly.

“Is
it Jason?” Felicia asked.

I
nodded.

“What
did he do to you?” Chastity asked through clenched teeth.

“Not
here, not now. I need to go.”

“I’ll
go get the boys,” Felicia said.

I
grabbed her hand and said, “Wait, I can’t leave with Conrad. I don’t want this
to get any worse than it already is. Please tell the guys that something came
up and that we had to leave. Then meet us at the front door. I’ll tell you
everything when we’re out of here. Please, do this for me.”

I
hated Jason for making me feel this way. I just wanted to get as far away as I
could, as fast as possible. I felt as if his eyes were on me. I couldn’t shake
the shiver running down my spine. I was letting him have control over me.

“Okay,
just give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be at the door,” she patted my
shoulder before heading toward the back room.

“Are
you okay?” Raven asked,

“I’ll
be fine once I’m out of here.”

“Samantha,
this isn’t child’s play anymore. This is a dangerous game of poker. If he just
upped the ante, then you have to go to the cops.”

All
I could do was nod because I knew she was right. First I had to get away from
him, and then I could go to the police.

Felicia
walked up to us as we reached the door. Thankfully, she was alone. She nodded
at me and we headed to where Raven had parked Felicia’s car. I collapsed into
the back seat and tried, unsuccessfully, to stop shaking.

“Okay,
spill it before we die from suspense here,” Chastity commanded from the front
seat.

“Jason
cornered me and then issued threats when I went to the restroom.”

“
What
?” Raven was outraged.

“The
guys were right, he wasn’t gone after all.”

Felicia
whispered from beside me.

“He
grabbed me, covered my mouth, pulled me into the corner and said all these
things about him pushing me toward Conrad. He admitted he was acting crazy. He
said he loves me and wants me back. He doesn’t want me with Conrad and asked me
if we were serious. I told him no and he said that if I was then it that would turn
out badly. He said not to leave with him, to go home and he’d be watching me.”

“Oh
my gosh, he’s completely lost it,” Felicia said.

“Sammy,
if he’s watching you then he could be behind us right now. I’m pulling over at
this gas station for just enough time to check things out. I’ll pretend I’m
checking the tires and see if he’s following us.”